wakame wha’?

Posted on June 25, 2014 by Liz

This gallery contains 2 photos.

Those bloggers in the Cooking Through the Alphabet gang are wild folk. First, they tested me with T for Tofu (I jumped in late); next, U was assigned to udon. With V came vanilla beans, which seemed a simpler ingredient. … Continue reading →

puppies, not ponies: time for another birthday cake

Posted on April 9, 2014 by Liz

This gallery contains 1 photo.

My youngest daughter, she of last year’s pony birthday cake, is set to turn a year older. Which means I have an excuse to go all out with another cake. Her chosen party theme for turning 8 is “puppies,” so … Continue reading →

deLizious leftovers

Posted on February 19, 2014 by Liz

What with all the sweet potato dishes cooked up here last week and the oatmeal cookies the week before that, I’ve burned myself out a bit in the kitchen. My husband has made more than a few of our weeknight meals and we have so many cookies (double dosing this cookie season with two Girl Scouts in the house), cakes, and the like that there’s no need to make any new sweet treats.

OK, I did make this cake for Valentine's Day. Inspiration and recipe found here.

OK, I did make a cake for Valentine’s Day. Inspiration and recipe found here.

So I’ll do what other cooked-out cooks do and serve leftovers this week. For starters, here’s a recent Blog of Funny Names post. Give it a click (Do it! It’s not like you’ll be tested on it 😉 ) and learn more about the folks behind your favorite cold-weather foods.

Minnesota Soybean’s Real Story blog also gave me opportunity to bake up tasty cornbread, containing not one, not two, but three soyfoods. You need cornbread if you have chili on the menu, so give it a read here.

Because food for fun’s goal is to send you away with more than enough, I’ll also offer you the recipe for husband’s killer oven-baked Crunchy Chicken. Served with creamed spinach (A pinch-and-dash puree of spinach and garlic sautéed in olive oil, then mixed with fat-free half-and-half and neufchâtel cheese. Sprinkled with freshly grated nutmeg, it made a lovely side.) and reheated stuffing from a soon-to-be-posted clams casino recipe (spoilers!), the chicken was a hit.

Crunchy Chicken and sides

Would love to see you back here next week and while I don’t yet know what we’ll be serving up, I promise it’ll be fun eats.

Crunchy Chicken

My husband plays it fast-and-loose with seasonings, so there’s no guarantee his results can be recreated exactly, though this is the recipe he used. Also note that he used only drumsticks and chicken breast tenders.

2 cups buttermilk
2 1/4 teaspoons salt, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder, divided
1 1/8 teaspoons freshly ground pepper, divided
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
3 pounds bone-in skin-on chicken pieces (split breasts cut in half, thighs, and/or drumsticks), trimmed
3 1/2 cups cornflakes, crushed
2/3 cup coarse breadcrumbs (about 2 slices bread)
1/2 teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons olive oil

To marinate chicken, in large plastic resealable food-storage bag, whisk together buttermilk, 2 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon pepper, and the hot sauce. Add chicken; seal bag. Turn to coat. Refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 12 hours.

Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position; heat oven 400ºF. Set wire rack on foil-lined rimmed baking sheet. Coat rack with cooking spray.

To make coating, in shallow dish, combine cornflakes, breadcrumbs, paprika, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Drizzle oil over crumbs; toss until well coated.

Working with 1 piece chicken at a time, remove from marinade. Dredge in crumb mixture, firmly pressing crumbs onto all sides. Place chicken on wire rack, leaving 1/2 inch between pieces. Bake 35 to 45 minutes or until coating is deep golden brown and thickest part of chicken thigh registers 175°F and thickest part of breast registers 165ºF.

culinary mash-up: chickpeas, margaritas, shabu-shabu, ice cream cake

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Liz

This weekend I enjoyed one of the craziest–and most fun–meals I’ve yet to experience. Gracious friends invited us over for shabu-shabu–a Japanese dish that owes its name (if Wikipedia is to be believed) to the sound the food makes as it cooks in bubbling broth–along with the host’s amazing margaritas. Already known for his margaritas, our friend had kicked things up a notch after a recent trip to Cozumel. He promised they were even Better now that he was using a homemade lime sour mix. I was asked to bring dessert and also slipped in an app as I’d just seen a Must-Make-This-Now recipe in a recent Bon Appetit.

So, we have Bacony Roasted Chickpeas: a Mediterranean-American-Italian appetizer.

tasting as good as they look

They were simple to make–just a handful of ingredients–and went down easy with the made-to-order margaritas.

margarita anyone?

The shabu-shabu was also great fun. Think fondue with an ethnic, less kitschy twist. Our hostess had set it up perfectly: Both halves of the pot held boiling broth, though one half also had a few drops of hot sauce added. Ingredients from the trays of prepped food (gorgeous shrimp, fish balls, mochi, shiitake mushrooms, bok choy, tofu, sprouts, udon) were tossed into the broth with chopsticks, then fished out when cooked as desired. Between “interactive eating” and the fabulous ingredients, this meal was as stellar as they come. As we enjoyed tossing and fishing (and eating), we patted ourselves on the back: save the tequila in the drinks, this was crazy-healthy party food.

Shabu-Shabu

boiling broth

Those back-pats ended, though, when the ice-cream cakes came out. With extra mint-chocolate chip ice cream on hand, I’d made two layer cakes of chocolate cookie crumb crusts (14 or so ounces cookies crushed to crumbs and mixed with 1/4 cup melted butter, then pressed into a 13x9ish-inch pan and frozen), a thick layer of minty ice cream, generous drizzles of homemade hot fudge sauce, and clouds of sweetened whipped cream. With cases of Girl Scout cookies in the basement, I couldn’t resist topping the cakes with cookie pieces. One cake might have done it for the amount we needed; I made two so I could stir creme de menthe (3 or so tablespoons) into the ice cream that went in the cake for the grown-ups. It was Grasshopper Cake, after all.

finale!

Adding the pepperoni pizza ordered in for the kids, this was quite a feast. A culinary mash-up indeed. Here’s to great meals and great friends and great times. If you want to entertain, but worry think that you can’t come up with the Perfect menu, take a page from this post. The foods don’t have to go together. They need only to be made (or purchased) and eaten in the spirit of friendship.

ethnic, exotic, and tofu

Posted on July 26, 2012 by Liz

I very much enjoy ordering authentic dishes at ethnic restaurants. With young kids in the house, I often play it safe when making meals. I’d rather they enjoy healthy, basic homemade fare (lean steaks and burgers, grilled pork chops, mildly seasoned chicken, etc) than refuse to eat the curries, stir-fries, and highly flavored stews (think jambalaya, cioppino) that I love. These dishes are lots of work and I’m the only one who would truly enjoy the meal. The “exotic” entrees remain restaurant fare.

True, kids learn to eat a broader variety of foods only when they’ve been exposed to this broader variety. Yet my experience has been that my girls (and husband, too) like basic and plain. While they’ll give new foods a taste, they won’t eat what they don’t like (and why should they?) and they don’t like complex and highly flavored dishes.

Tonight’s meal, then, was all about me. I had tofu in the fridge with an expiration date coming up, so decided to shake things up by whipping up Cauliflower and Tofu with Tikka Spices. The recipe came from Deborah Madison’s This Can’t Be Tofu! and I won’t bother to offer it here as I made so many changes along the way (didn’t have the right ingredients on hand, was fast and loose with measurements) that what I served was an approximation of the recipe.

Instead, I’ll offer this “formula.” I roasted and ground cumin, coriander, and cardamom seeds along with whole cloves, grated my nutmeg, then added a bit of ground turmeric, curry powder and Szechuan pepper as well as minced fresh garlic. I had cubed firm tofu, then combined it in a plastic bag with the spices, shaking it to coat. (Shake-and-bake!) The coated tofu was sautéed in olive oil with just a touch of salt. Steamed cauliflower was added to the sautéed tofu along with a can of coconut milk (key ingredient–can’t have the dish without) and a handful of cashew pieces. I also tossed in a bunch of stale kale chips that were sitting on the counter. A handful of chopped fresh basil finished it off. At the able, the dish was served with whole milk Greek yogurt for a refreshingly cool contrast.

The coconut milk and spices were fantastic together and made this curry what it was. Any protein or veg could be used and the individual spice amounts can be varied to taste, so plenty of room for variations on the theme.

Did my kids like it? Nope. My husband? Not really. But I loved the fragrance, textures, and flavors of my meal. Bonus: I have leftovers in the fridge that will taste even better tomorrow. It was for sure more work to roast and grind spices, etc, but I’m glad I made the effort. It was better than what I’d order at a restaurant (less greasy) and I enjoyed turning out something different come mealtime.

Tomorrow night I’ll be serving up simple again. But there’s another can of coconut milk in my pantry and a package of tempeh in my refrigerator, so maybe I won’t wait so long to serve up “exotic” fare again.

block of tofu

cauliflower (and tofu) curry in cast-iron

tofu on the table

Posted on May 23, 2012 by Liz

Before kids, I ate an über-healthy diet. No meat, lots of veggies, regular intake of fatty fish, legumes, and whole grains. I still had the sweet tooth I do now, but figured that my overall low-calorie and nutrient-rich diet more than balanced any high-fat, high-sugar indiscretions.

Then came kids. Pregnancy threw my body for a loop as I was completely turned off all vegetables. Bizarre. I also developed ravenous protein cravings and anything whole-grain had WAY too much flavor. Having food issues when pregnant isn’t uncommon and it’s temporary, but each pregnancy still threw off my healthy-eating groove and it takes work to go back. I’m glad to love fresh produce and whole grains again, but returning to occasional meatless meals has yet to happen.

Which is why tonight’s supper was so much fun. I bought tofu a week or so ago, thinking it would be good to cook with again. I found a recipe in my collection I had clipped from an old Vegetarian Times and set about to make Barbecued Tofu. I was trying to use up an overabundance of zucchini, summer squash, and bell peppers, so subbed those in for the veggies called for in the recipe. I made a few other tweaks and this is what I came up with.

barbecued tofu and sweet brown rice

The flavors were good, though a homemade barbecue sauce would have made it even tastier. My husband dutifully ate a serving, though his preference would have been something more meat-and-potatoes. And while I would love to report that my girls gobbled it down, they weren’t thrilled with tonight’s meal.

It’s on me to finish the leftovers (of which there are plenty–this recipe makes a lot), but I don’t mind as this dish is versatile. It’ll be tasty stuffed into pitas, wrapped in tortillas, tossed with pasta, or served over mixed greens. But tonight, alongside brown rice, it made a warm, comforting, and über-healthy meal.

Barbecued Tofu

1 (14- to 16-ounce) package firm tofu
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 each red, yellow, and orange bell pepper, thinly sliced
2 each zucchini and yellow summer squash, cut into bite-size pieces
1/2 to 1 cup barbecue sauce
Salt and pepper, to taste

Heat oven to 400°F. Coat large baking sheet lightly with olive oil.

Drain tofu; pat dry on clean kitchen towel. Cut tofu into bite-size pieces.

On baking sheet, toss together vegetables. Drizzle with some of barbecue sauce. Toss to coat, adding sauce as needed. Add tofu to baking sheet; drizzle with sauce as needed. Roast, stirring gently once or twice, 20 minutes or until vegetables are desired doneness. Season with salt and black pepper. Makes 8 servings.